Quartzfest 2015 Part 5

Antenna Walkabout

Today, there was an antenna walkabout.  This is a show and tell about the different types and mountings of antennas used by RVers and anyone who needs to set up temporary or mobile communications for emergencies or pleasure.  When we arrived at the gathering point for the walkabout near the main fire ring, we saw the results of last night's Burning SandHAM Ceremony.  Poor guy.

 

This is the Hex Beam antenna that was used for the event station.

 

The owner of this antenna combo was showing us how he had developed a method to raise it from the convenient transporting position into a perfect transmitting height and position.  He used compressed air to push the collapsible multi-sectioned mast into the air about 25 feet or so.

Sharp desert rocks did not deter this person from going barefoot during the walkabout.

 



This dipole antenna is usually onboard a boat.   It is painted with special yellow paint to protect it from the sea's salt water spray.

These are the many and varied types of antennae that are used for the California Rescue Communications base when they go to the location of a disaster.

 

This spider antenna is mounted on the front tongue of the trailer.  There is a flexible, foldable solar panel draped over the rock shield for the front window.

 

Another interesting antenna mounted on the ladder in the rear of the trailer.

 

It is definitely a Ham Radio gathering when you can see so many antennae such as in this view across the campground.

 

This evening, our group of friends had a potluck.  Everything was delicious.  After dinner, we all gathered around the campfire to relax and visit for awhile. 

 

When it got darker, we decided to send up a Chinese lantern.

Trying to get the waxy fuel to light so that it will heat up the envelope of the lantern.



 

Finally!  It is lit.

It is almost ready to take off.  I couldn't get photos of the lantern in flight.  It was too dark and the lantern moved too fast for the camera to focus.  We see Chinese Lanterns floating through the skies almost every evening here in Quartzsite.  It is interesting to watch them to see how high and how far they go, especially if there are many up at one time.

There was another beautiful sunset tonight. I decided to try some night shots and some time lapse starry sky pictures for a change.  Here I have the whole sunset photo and a zoomed in version showing the Moon with Mars (the tiny yellow-orange dot to the left of the Moon) and Venus below.

                

 

 This is Orion in a 30 second exposure.  It is amazing how much the earth turns in 30 seconds.  The stars are not pinpoints, but slightly dashed because I did not track the stars.  Never the less, the belt (three perpendicular stars in the middle of the picture), the sword (2 brighter and 1 dim stars going at a diagonal to the right and below the belt), and Betelgeuse (the yellowish star on the far left) can easily be seen. 





 

That is all for today.  Time to get to bed.

 

 



Quartzfest 2015 Part 4

Off Road Trip and Burning SandHAM

It is a beautiful day for a ride through the desert of southwestern Arizona.  I was up earlier than usual and captured the sun rising over our circle of friends camped at Road Runner BLM Campground.

Today I rode along with our friends, Rich and Cathy, on the 4X4 Off Road Trip that was planned by one of the Amateur Radio operators who attended Quartzfest.  Earl stayed back at camp.  It was so much fun!!  There was a group of 40 vehicles on the trip, a lot of 4X4s traveling along the trails of the desert north of Quartzsite.  Here we are all lined up checking to be sure everyone has their tires deflated to the proper pressure and that all of their equipment is ready to go.  I'm not sure where we might need kayaks, but this guy is prepared, as well as one about three cars ahead of him.

Our first stop was at an area that had five abandoned mines.  Most of them were not very deep as you see in the first photo. 

 

However, there was one that was quite deep with old rotted wooden supports and crumbling sides.  It was fenced off so that you couldn't get close enough to see very far into it.   I don't think we would have wanted to get any closer than we did, because the top edge sort of funneled into the hole from about 5 - 6 feet out from the opening where you can see the wood.

This was a good spot to see how the group looked as we snaked around on the trail through the desert.

The next stop was at the ruins of a large rock wall.  There were theories about its reason for being - maybe a lookout made by the Indians or maybe the side walls of a house or other building or maybe someone being very neat about clearing his land. 

It looks too structured for just clearing the land.  It must have had a more important purpose.  Perhaps the person memorialized on the hill to the upper left in the picture above did it or used it.

The ruins of a stagecoach stop was the location of the next point of interest.  There were rock walls and a square in the center of the floor that looked as if it could have been a socket for a roof supporting beam.

 

From here, we could see where we would be having our lunch break.  It  was the site of a mine that had been quite a big operation at one time.  There were the tell tail signs of the tailing pile running off the edge of the hill and concrete foundations of the buildings in the cleared area at the bottom of the hill that were the headquarters of the business. You need to enlarge the picture to see it better.

 

And we're off, over the windy, rocky road, hills and dry wash river beds on our way to lunch.

We were at the lunch stop for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours.  From our lunch spot, we could see a natural bridge.  It is difficult to see because the color of the rock blends in, but there is a couple small slits of sunlight shining through under the arch.  At this angle and time of day, the amount of light isn't very much, but you can see it.  They look like two whitish dots under the arch.  There is a steep trail leading to an area where one can climb on top of the arch and some in the group were brave enough to drive up that steep trail and climb to the top of the arch.

After we had lunch, we went as small groups to do some exploring of the area.  We headed out on one of the trails that went back to some old mines.  You can see that all of us, who are well into our adult lives, have lived so long because we have learned how to follow directions.

 

 Here we go.

 Now we are heading through the tunnel of the old mine.  It is quite tall and roomy.

 

 We made it to the dead end of the tunnel, about 250 - 300 feet in length.

 

 Heading toward the light (at the end of the tunnel going out).  The light in front of the person is the light coming in through the entrance.

Once we got back to the jeep, we continued down the road to another site.  It seems that this structure was used to load the ore, that was mined, into  carts, wagons, or trucks.

 

 These are the shoots.

 

 Back at our lunch spot, someone is testing their four wheeling skills by coming down the side of the tailing pile.  He was not the first to take this course. 

 

This was the last stop on our route.  Now we had to make our way back to civilization.  It sure is interesting what you find back in the hills.  It makes you wonder how and why they decided to come back into these remote areas to set up a homestead or business.

While we were on our off road trip, some folks were back at the Quartzfest site taking examinations to obtain or upgrade their licenses.  There were many new Hams and several who upgraded to the next level of expertise.

The wind had become quite strong while we were gone, but that didn't stop the Burning SandHAM Celebration this evening.  Here is the SandHAM about to be sacrificed, complete with several hand held radios, call sign tattoos, and a Quartzfest T-shirt.

 



The Burning SandHAM Celebration will be seen on the internet Ham Nation Show tonight and again next Wed., Jan. 28,2015.  Just Google Ham Nation and it should take you there every Wed. evening at 9 PM Eastern and 6 PM Pacific, if you are interested.  When I Googled to get the link above, I saw that tonight's episode is under #180, if you care to check it out.  Here, they can be seen trying to make contact with the producers.

 

The torch is ready.

We have a connection aaaand ACTION. 

It is very windy.  Hair and the flames are blowing  We are on the air.  We all were on the broadcast in a sweeping panorama of the audience gathered for the event.

 

 He is fully engulfed in flames.  SandHAM is burning.





Well, it is cold and the wind is blowing pretty hard, so we are going back to the trailer.  We will see the aftermath tomorrow morning.



Quartzfest 2015 Part 3

Monday, 1/19/15 & Tuesday, 1/20/15.
 
Of course there were the usual educational talks and demonstrations at Quartzfest on these days, but it is not all business and classes.  There are other fun things that go on as well.  This man is testing some new updated equipment and is telling us about it and requesting that people come to his rig to try it out.  When he goes home, the equipment will be installed on a mountain top for all in the area to use.  There is Tai Chi every morning and craft projects several times throughout the week.

We put up a hummingbird feeder on the back ladder on our trailer.  It was amazingly already attracting hummers within 20 minutes after it went up.  At home, it sometimes takes many days, even a couple weeks, before the birds find a newly installed feeder.  We were really surprised at how quickly they came to our feeder out here in the middle of the desert.


I like the photo on the left, below.  Earl was able to get the hummer eating “on the fly”.  I think it looks like a giant dragon fly.  Look closely at the wings against the white RV in the background.  They are moving so fast that the camera had several flaps of his wings in one shot.
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Tuesday was  a shopping day.  It was a morning that was left free from planned activities so that attendees could go to the RV show in the Big Tent in town or do whatever they wanted.  In the afternoon, there was a cast iron Dutch oven cooking class.  Items they made were eaten at the potluck that night.  We don’t do cast iron cooking, so we went into town in the afternoon on Tuesday.

You can find almost anything in Quartzsite.  Here are some photos that we took in the sales area of Tyson Wells.  It is just a small sample of what is available.  If you are a rock hound, this is the place for you.  Tons and tons of geodes, gems, minerals, fossils, and probably whatever you are looking for are here.  Large and small booths have all sorts of items for sale from jewelry and jewelry making supplies to tools,
 

 

decorative items like wall hangings of animal trophies to iron work and pots,

 

clothing, hardware, carvings, artwork and food for lunch or snacking.

If you can’t find it in Quartzsite, it probably doesn’t exist.

After shopping, we met our friends Sharon and Scott and Scott’s brother and his wife, who all happened to be in Quartzsite too, for dinner at a new restaurant in town called the Stagecoach Restaurant.  It had very good food and we enjoyed visiting with our friends during our dinner.

Tomorrow will be an early day.  There is an off road trip back into the hills of the desert north of Quartzsite that has been planned for any of the Quartzfest attendees who want to go four wheeling.